Promoting Social Europe by reversing liberalisation? Implementation of the revised Posting of Workers Directive in EU member states

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ABSTRACT The revision of the Posting of Workers Directive (PWD) was welcomed as an important step towards a more Social Europe. In this article, we examine how EU member states (MS) implemented the revised directive. We focus on those parts of the directive that should enable MS to reverse previous negative integration by the European Court of Justice. Despite the initial enthusiasm, the revision has led to only minor changes in national labour law. We ask why MS that actively pushed for the revision did not exploit the new regulatory possibilities further. In addition to presenting comparative data on national implementation, we conduct in-depth case studies of countries that supported the revision at the EU level (Denmark, Finland, Germany). Disagreements between employers and trade unions, partisan effects, and institutional misfit between the PWD and national wage-setting systems explain the limited impact of the revision in these MS. The revision of the PWD shows how difficult it is to politically counteract the market-making impetus of European single market law.